1. Field of the Invention
The embodiments disclosed relate generally to appliances and more particularly to a method of opening an appliance door.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the advancement of technology the number of kitchen appliances in a normal household has increased. In the past, a typical household kitchen may have included a stove and a refrigerator, but now it may in addition incorporate more than one oven, a microwave, and a dishwasher to name just a few. As the number of appliances increased, the available useful space has decreased, constraining designers to place these appliances closer and closer together. One such example is a freestanding, dual-cavity unit incorporating one oven on top of another.
As these appliances are disposed closer together, it is desirable to maintain customer appeal by minimizing separation gaps and proper operation of individual doors without interference with other appliances, while, at the same time, maximizing the usable height of the appliance as much as possible. As used herein throughout, usable height is defined as the distance from a rack disposed inside an appliance at its lowest position to the inside top surface of the appliance, as for example, the broil element of an oven. As appreciated by those of ordinary skill, as the usable height increases the size of a cookware to be used in the appliance increases, making the appliance more functional and desirable from a customer's point of view.
It would therefore be desirable to develop a method of opening the door of an appliance so as to increase usable height, while minimizing the separation gap to an adjacent appliance or another physical constraint.